Safer Care Through Simulation

00:00:00:03 - 00:00:23:22
Tom Haederle
Welcome to Advancing Health. Simulation is doing more than training clinicians. It's helping teams prepare for high risk moments, test new approaches and improve how care is delivered. In today's conversation with the head of Business Development and Hospital Strategy at Laerdal Medical, we explore what that shift means for quality, safety and the future of health care.

00:00:23:25 - 00:01:03:24
Kristin Preihs
Welcome to today's episode. I'm Kristin Preihs, vice president of American Hospital Association and Health Research and Educational Trust. Joining us today is Clint Pridgen and someone I would also consider a friend from Laerdal Medical, an organization that has built meaningful partnerships focused on advancing patient safety, workforce readiness and innovation across the health care continuum. This year at AHA's Leadership Summit, that partnership came to life in so many ways, from supporting our quality improvement initiatives and workforce developments to new simulation programs focused on rural maternal health, an immersive learning experience that showcases the future of healthcare and what education can look like.

00:01:03:25 - 00:01:36:15
Kristin Preihs
In today's conversation, we are going to discuss how simulation is evolving beyond traditional training, what health systems can learn from top performing organizations, and where there are the greatest opportunities for improving readiness, teamwork, and patient care in the years ahead. AHA and Laerdal have a long standing relationship in quality and patient safety, beginning with the AHA Patient Safety Initiative and evolving into the AHA Quest for Quality. Across our time together, Laerdal has developed a deep connection focused on quality, innovation, simulation, and rural readiness.

00:01:36:15 - 00:01:47:13
Kristin Preihs
And Clint, I'd love to connect a little bit with you and thank you so much for being here today. When you look across those areas, what do you see as common threads for where Laerdal's work with hospitals and health care systems?

00:01:47:15 - 00:02:11:02
Clint Pridgen
Great question, Kristin. And first of all, thank you for having us. We love the partnership and agree it's been very meaningful. I spent a lot of time thinking about that question over the last several months, which is the notion of change. And change is hard. I had a gentleman I worked with one time that said, you have to really treat change almost like the five stages of grief, because it's so hard to move through.

00:02:11:02 - 00:02:41:18
Clint Pridgen
And there's bargaining and denial. And the reality is, in the health care environment, the only concept we have right now is change. And what we have seen, whether it's the Quest for Quality, whether it's work with McDonough and Richland and Vernon, is those organizations that are willing to embrace change, to find ways to improve the patient experience are the ones that are really moving that needle and that find new and innovative ways of tackling challenges that, quite frankly, everyone is facing.

00:02:41:20 - 00:03:06:22
Kristin Preihs
One of the things you mentioned is the work that we're doing with rural hospitals, and it's a new frontier that we're engaging on. We know that rural hospitals focusing on maternal health are dealing with a myriad of challenges, from workforce to readiness to financial constraints. And we're really looking forward to this partnership where we're identifying a few hospitals for a pilot exercise on how to improve rural OB care.

00:03:06:24 - 00:03:10:25
Kristin Preihs
Can you talk a little bit about some of that pilot and what you're most excited about?

00:03:10:27 - 00:03:37:00
Clint Pridgen
Absolutely. Well, as you know, and as everyone on this listening to this podcast knows, we have not moved the needle on maternal care as much as we'd like to across the United States. And that really is for a myriad of reasons, right? Some of that reflects the closing of maternal services at locations. Some of it's also a function of workforce shortages and requiring individuals to work in departments that they're not really used to.

00:03:37:01 - 00:04:08:27
Clint Pridgen
At Laerdal, We really began our foundational work in resuscitation and cardiovascular events, and what we found through that work was the importance of repeated frequent training. And what does that mean to really put your hands on in a experience that replicates what you're going to see in real life? And as we work with McDonough, as we work with Richland, as we work with Vernon and partner with the AHA, I think we're really excited about bringing some of those principles into areas that, quite frankly, haven't had the opportunity to experience those as readily.

00:04:09:01 - 00:04:41:03
Clint Pridgen
I think the other thing that really excites us in particular is this notion of how do we use data in an actual, tangible way to create additional resourcing and efficiency in our efforts? We all know that time is one of the biggest limiters that we have as a resource, and so often training becomes a descriptive task where we've trained X number of people or the next number of hours, as opposed to a directive task that says, hey, here's where our biggest opportunity is to have the biggest impact.

00:04:41:03 - 00:04:47:22
Clint Pridgen
And so I think we're really excited about the work that we're doing together in that space and what it's going to mean ultimately for patient outcomes.

00:04:47:26 - 00:05:17:07
Kristin Preihs
You mentioned one thing I want to pull up for a moment, which is different experiences. And simulation is something that has evolved so much over time, especially integrating into quality and patient safety for practices and as an evolution in technology and how we're training the new workforce. I know when we were at AHA Leadership Summit, we were able to partner on a very specific experience, which was around a future healthcare system of tomorrow, and specifically integrated some surprises in an escape room along the way related to simulation.

00:05:17:08 - 00:05:19:08
Kristin Preihs
Can you talk a little bit about that?

00:05:19:10 - 00:05:49:08
Clint Pridgen
Absolutely, absolutely. You know, we have the opportunity to interact with a fair number of organizations and systems throughout the course of the week. And as we had different conversations about patient safety, not surprisingly, but unfortunately, the notion of workplace safety was on the top of everyone's list about how do we do that more effectively. And there is tremendous amount of positive conversation about incorporation of AI and how do we increase our digitization and our efficiency.

00:05:49:08 - 00:06:22:22
Clint Pridgen
But the reality is the end of the day, patients are human, and we're still going to be interacting with humans, which means we've got to be able to deal with them in an effective manner, regardless of their emotional state. And what we have seen over the last several years was the notion of changing the objective of what we're trying to achieve and taking it from necessarily a competency development exercise into how do we respond as a team, how do we look at our processes to protect our workers in a de-escalation situation?

00:06:22:22 - 00:06:41:16
Clint Pridgen
And that is an area in which we've barely begun to scratch the surface as we think about whether it's workplace safety, if we think about more broadly behavioral health and what that means also in the context of generational changes, where we know that the workforce that is coming in, they have different proclivities as it relates to interpersonal interactions.

00:06:41:16 - 00:06:50:10
Clint Pridgen
And how do we customize that to make sure that the workforce feels supported and safe? Because then the patients will feel supported and safe.

00:06:50:13 - 00:07:15:27
Kristin Preihs
And just focusing on safe, too. I was watching some folks after they after they were really experiencing the simulation and going through various exercises and from when they went in and were hesitant in this escape room to when they came out and were confident in having conversations about trust and exercises and the importance of fun, and really being able to fail quickly and learn from it and talk about the depth of their own experience was just something that was really meaningful.

00:07:15:27 - 00:07:37:07
Kristin Preihs
So I just want to say thank you as well for that partnership. Another area that I know we're working together very closely is on the AHA Quest for Quality, which recognizes hospitals and health care systems doing outstanding work in quality, patient safety and innovation. As part of our relationship together, Laerdal been a sponsor for now two years, offering simulation services to finalists and other honorees.

00:07:37:08 - 00:07:46:25
Kristin Preihs
What has it been like for you and your team to go across the country, visit different types of hospitals and health care systems, talk about simulation and the integration with quality and patient safety?

00:07:46:27 - 00:08:11:24
Clint Pridgen
Absolutely. In a word, it's been inspiring. It is so easy to get mired in the day to day challenges and sometimes lose sight of what we're really trying to do, right, which is improve that patient experience. And in the work we've done together in the quest for quality, being able to interact with these organizations in which quality is not just a buzzword, it's part of the organizational fabric, has been truly inspiring.

00:08:11:25 - 00:08:41:28
Clint Pridgen
I think what is interesting, as we reflect back on the commonalities, there are a couple of things that strike me. I think the first that strikes me is even though everyone believes that they're unique and have all of these different challenges, and certainly there's variability, at the end of the day 80% is very similar. And while that's sobering because it means everyone's facing similar challenges, it's also encouraging because it means if these organizations have been able to move the needle, theoretically everyone in healthcare should be able to move that needle.

00:08:41:28 - 00:09:14:13
Clint Pridgen
And I think that's really encouraging. And so then the question becomes, what do we see that really sets these two, these organizations apart. And it really is two things. It's innovation and it's not innovation for the sake of innovation. In fact, our one of our chairman for Laerdal says innovation without an impact is meaningless. But these are organizations that say we understand the challenge and we're willing to commit by taking actionable intelligence to figure out where we believe the biggest opportunity is, and then driving programs organizationally in a dedicated fashion.

00:09:14:19 - 00:09:43:13
Clint Pridgen
I think the other piece of it is these are organizations that have embedded this notion of quality and patient centered care into their culture. And we've heard it said that culture eats strategy for breakfast. And I think that is what we see repeatedly at these organizations. They're able to keep that 'why' of what they do front and center, and that enables them, I think, to move through some of the challenges, or at least be more willing to navigate them in the course of the innovation that they're trying to achieve.

00:09:43:14 - 00:10:03:03
Kristin Preihs
And thinking about that, too. I've seen a lot of different types of modules and experiences that you all put together. They have evolved considerably from what you've shared to ensure that it aligns with hospital health care providers general needs. What does the future look like for simulation? Because technology is moving so fast and its speed in all different types of areas.

00:10:03:03 - 00:10:08:18
Kristin Preihs
So what does the future look like? Are we going to see robots walking around? What does that look like from a Laerdal medical point of view?

00:10:08:22 - 00:10:32:00
Clint Pridgen
That's a great question. And if I take out my crystal ball, I think what we really see continuing to evolve is how do we get much more targeted on the objective we're trying to achieve? I think historically when people have mentioned the term simulation, oftentimes simulation becomes the objective. We're going to do simulation. And the reality, that's not the goal, right?

00:10:32:01 - 00:11:13:04
Clint Pridgen
We're either trying to improve individual competence or we're trying to improve team performance that we know impacts two thirds of all adverse events, right? Or we need to do system testing and provide some mechanism to detect latent patient safety threats in advance as opposed to retroactively. And simulation becomes part of the toolset in that kit. And I think what you've already seen, to your point about the optimization and the evolution of some of these modules are how do we continue to evolve those simulation methodologies to help organization achieve those competency goals or team performance goals, or quality goals from a patient safety threat? That's going to manifest in multiple ways.

00:11:13:04 - 00:11:48:06
Clint Pridgen
It's going to manifest in more sophisticated simulators, which we've already seen. It's going to manifest in much more digitized solutions. Conversational AI, as we think about behavioral health and looking at some of the soft skills that we even looked at the escape route. But more than anything, it's going to be how do we integrate analytic insight and data across all of those imperatives to really help organizations see the change that they have already experienced, and to really identify and zero in on what is it that we need to do to move the needle even further.

00:11:48:09 - 00:12:13:14
Kristin Preihs
And I love that Laerdal has really thought about how you're incorporating simulation into a hospital goal, because it doesn't sit separate. And sometimes we think of technology as one more thing we have to figure out. And in working with you and seeing your team work directly with hospitals, it's so well integrated to your point - what the goals are that teams are trying to achieve and help them to achieve it faster, smarter and with greater effectiveness.

00:12:13:16 - 00:12:34:14
Kristin Preihs
So thank you for everything that you've done. We've heard today, simulation is no longer viewed as simply a training exercise. It's becoming a powerful strategy for building safer systems, stronger teams and more resilient health care systems. So thank you, Clint, for sharing your insights. I know we'll be seeing a lot more from you in Q for Q and beyond, especially in the maternal and rural space.

00:12:34:16 - 00:12:40:04
Kristin Preihs
We really appreciate your partnership with Laerdal Medical, and thank you to all of our listeners today for joining us.

00:12:40:07 - 00:12:46:02
Clint Pridgen
Thank you so much for having us. Pleasure to be here. And we love the partnership.

00:12:46:04 - 00:12:54:27
Tom Haederle
Thanks for listening to Advancing Health. Please subscribe and rate us five stars on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.